Monthly Archives: November 2018

The multi award-winning Fairmont Resort Blue Mountains creates memorable and unique event experiences in the heart of the World Heritage-listed Blue Mountains. From a conference centre to corporate retreats, our conference resort is the largest meetings and events venue in Katoomba or the Blue Mountains.

Their 15 flexible, pillar-less conference spaces cater for up to 850 delegates with several naturally lit spaces and outdoor options to suit any occasion. The rooms can be configured to meet your individual needs, from a multitude of layouts to our tailored AV services which will provide you with a high level of onsite support.

The unique location of Fairmont Resort allows you to create a memorable experience for your delegates… imagine conferencing during the day in a naturally lit room with views of the bushland below. Then moving onto the lawn for casual pre-dinner drinks as the setting sun hits the dramatic escarpment. Then finishing the day with a spectacular themed gala dinner… and that is just day one!

“I would like to thank you and your team for their efforts both in the lead up to our event and across the three days of our event. The staff were always friendly, helpful and efficient.

Nothing ever seemed too much for them. Please pass on my thanks to all those involved, from yourself, to reception, concierge, to bar and catering staff and chefs, AV team and those who serviced our rooms.

I’m sure I’ve missed some, but do appreciate all their efforts in helping make our event a successful one.”

Finding the right team building activities for smaller groups can sometimes be a challenge, especially if you’re working to a set budget. If you’re part of a team of only 7-12 people and looking for a team activity, we’ve put together a list of our top team building activities for smaller groups!

In a Pinnacle blog post from July earlier this year, we discussed the notion of the ‘ideal team size’. When dividing a large group into smaller teams we usually try and keep these team sizes around the 7-person mark, however anywhere between 6 – 10 is great! By keeping team sizes within this range, we find this provides the best environment for all members of the team to contribute and have their creativity, ideas, energy & experience flourish. But what if your total group size is only 7 – 12 people? What team building activities for smaller groups work best?

The perfect activity for smaller groups that won’t break the bank. We have created our very own mobile Escape the room challenge that can be brought to your conference venue or office. For a small group of up to 12 people we would keep everyone on the same team & “lock” them in a room with a set time frame in which to escape before the world as we know it ceases to exist. Teams must follow the clues, solve the puzzles and unlock the secrets to ESCAPE!

For teams to be successful they must communicate, think outside the box, work together, admit to their mistakes and believe they can succeed. All this under extreme time pressure as each team has only 90 minutes to uncover the 8-digit code that will ultimately allow them to escape the room.

This event can be tailored to suit any size group by adding more rooms for more teams. We recommend each team is between 7 – 12 people with each team requiring 1 room. Rooms can be conference rooms, hotel rooms, offices, boardrooms etc. Pinnacle requires 30 minutes in each room prior to the event to set up.

As the majority of challenges in our Survivor are based more on lateral thinking, problem solving challenges than team sports, this activity is well suited to smaller groups! This activity sees teams competing head to head at a series of “Survivor style” lateral thinking tasks that require the whole team to cooperate, communicate and think outside the square as they aim to outscore their opponents.

A modified version of our Amazing Race activity suited to smaller groups that might be tight on time or budget. The Scramble sees teams race around the local area taking team photos, collecting scavenger items, solving IQ Tests and passing through a roadblock challenge activity site.

Teams will be issued a map of the local area showing their start, finish and roadblock location and a list of photos to take and scavenger items to collect. Teams aim to outscore their opponents with each scavenger item, team photo and correct IQ answer adding to their score. When teams arrive at the final location they submit their items, photos and answers to the Pinnacle team for marking.

This ancient form of medieval weaponry is a great event to get your team on target! In this engaging activity a structured lesson involving technique and safety are outlined and enforced. The delegates are then divided into teams that compete aiming to outscore their opponents. All delegates will have plenty of firing time and be kept entertained as teams are involved in various competitions and games that all involve shooting arrows at the target. The event can finish with a sharpest individual shooter if you like.

As this event involves delegates firing real arrows the space available to host this activity must allow for a large firing range. We are permitted to hold the event on private land such as conference venues however most councils do not allow this event on public land.

Experience the thrill and excitement of shooting clay pigeons as they fly through the air.

This dynamic and interactive activity uses authentic 12-gauge shotguns that have been converted to fire laser beams. Clays with Omni-directional tape are fired from the launcher – when the shooter scores a hit the beam is reflected back to the gun and registers a hit on the electronic scoreboard.

This activity is very popular and loads of fun for males and females of all ages, fitness levels and ability.

Even strong teams can benefit from team building exercises; they help to promote better teamwork and communication as well as boosting morale & productivity. Even with a full agenda all it takes is a 15-20 minute icebreaker activity to get your team motivated and ready for the day ahead. Are you planning a group event or meeting and want to get your participants off to a good start? Avoid the awkward silence and add an element of fun with one or more of these icebreaker activities for groups!

Human Bingo: 20 – 30 minutes

Just like the game you played with Grandma, but instead of numbers you need to find someone in the room who fits the description on your Bingo card.

Human Bingo is the perfect event to facilitate a large group of people breaking the ice and meeting one another. The event is set loosely on the game BINGO whereby each participant receives a piece of paper and a pen. Upon the paper is a table with 45 boxes – each box contains a descriptive statement that may match one, two or many people in the room. The goal of the participants is to roam the room and introduce themselves around to meet as many people as possible; each meeting the participants will assist the other with putting their name into one of the boxes. Each box may only be used once by each person. Each person can only appear once on a participants BINGO sheet ensuring delegates meet at least 45 people in the 30-minute time frame.

Once you complete all 45 boxes you yell BINGO at the top of your lungs and the game finishes with that winner on stage and the MC introducing some of the 45 people they met and the statements for each of them.

This is a fun and engaging way to get to know each other with fun and excitement rather than many of the ‘get to know you’ alternatives that can be awkward and lame. The Human Bingo will set the precedent at the beginning of the conference that meeting each other and communicating with suppliers, members and institute staff is encouraged throughout the conference.

Balloon Modelling: 15 minutes

This one’s for the Clown enthusiasts! Teams must make the best balloon model that represents their team and come up with a sales pitch to present to the judges….in front of the entire group of course.

Foil Towers

Teams race against the clock to build the tallest tower using only foil. This is a much tougher task than it sounds!

Focusing on teamwork, communication and leadership, teams must construct a basket that will catch an egg dropped from a height of 2m.

The challenge is to construct a mechanism that can catch and support a raw egg after it is dropped from a height of approximately 2 metres. In small groups, delegates use straws, sticky tape and ingenuity to create a capsule to keep Eddy safe.

A very simple, exciting and fun break activity that is guaranteed to liven the troops for the next session.

Visualise yourself amidst a sea of colour and rhythm! Delegates enter the conference room to be met by the sounds of drumming from the Human Rhythms team. As the surprised delegates take their seats they discover a musical tube in front of them and start to play.

Our vibrant, colourful musical tubes are the perfect instrument when only a short setup time is available. Imagine your delegates returning to find the conference room has been transformed into a sea of instrumental colour. This option is also great in a dinner setting or when time, budget or space is an issue.

Do you have a competitive team who thrives on a challenge? Look no further, this event is for you!

This is a construction based event whereby each team is allocated a set of resources to build a Formula 1 race car. The car is designed around its power source – a rocket!

The rocket is a specially designed piece of equipment that will create a blast of power generated by a high pressure cycling foot pump. The result is a car that shoots out of the starting gates and hopefully beats your opponents by travelling the greatest distance along the conference room floor.

This is a great session where teams of approximately five people will design and build their very own car. All cars race with the winners of each round entering the finals and then finishing with the grand finale.

If you’ve ever wondered what makes a Pinnacle Team Events facilitator tick then you have come to the right place! Each month we will be taking 5 minutes to chat with each of our facilitators about their lives both inside and outside of work.

What do you love about hosting the Corporate Drumming events?I love the power the drums have to quickly unify any group on a common pulse.

I love that the rhythm anchors our attention in the present moment, having the natural by-product of joy & laughter.

Favourite moment as a corporate drumming facilitator:There have been many favourite moments, but a standout would have to be leading a group of 1400 delegates in Sydney Town Hall from a rocking unified rhythm into complete silence! So Incredible! 🙂

Most embarrassing moment as a facilitator:In the early days I learnt quickly that pointing fingers is considered highly disrespectful in some cultures. Segmenting a team into sub-groups using pointed fingers was an absolute disaster on one occasion!